Article of apparel



April 1941- K. OPPENHEIMER 9 ARTICLE OF APPAREL Filed hlay 11, 1940 Zyz2% f 241 2/ A 6 a N g Q 1 g 2f INVENTOR. ffLEE OPPE/VHE/MER ATTORNEYSPatented Apr. l, 1941 UNITED STATES v PATENT OFFICE I IABTIJIZIZZZGZPABEF Klee Oppenheimer, New York, N. Y. Application May 11,1940, Serial No. 334,474

(ctr-24v) 2 Claims.

The invention relates to articles of apparel or garments of outerwearfor men, women, or children, such as trousers, knickerbockers, riding orWork breeches, and skirts, and more particularly to a novel constructionof pockets for such garmerits.

One of the objects of-the present invention is to provide an article ofapparel, conventionally including pockets, with a pocket structurecomprising two completely separate and individually accessiblecompartments fabricated from a single piece of material and applied tothe conventional type of garment without any change being necessitatedin the cut or designof the fabric constituting the garment, and whichtwo compartment pocket will be retained in proper position for readyaccess to the contents of either compartment by the hands of the userthrough a single opening in the garment.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a two-compartmentstructure of pocket which is supported from the waist line of thegarment in proper position to conform with the body contour of thewearer in all postures of the wearer, whether standing, sitting, orwalking, and which will not interfere in any way with the smooth fit ofthe garment in either of these postures and yet be able to support andcontain any of a plurality of articles which are flat or bulky andwithin easy reach of the user.

A still further object of the invention is to secure a duplexcompartment pocket to the body of the garment along the conventionalside seam or seams of the garment in substantially the conventionalposition of the usual pockets provided on garments of this type and yetto provide ready character indicated in which the two compartments areof substantial depth, separated from each other below the point ofjuncture of the two openings to the compartments, at which point ofjuncture the entire pocket structure is securely fastened to the garmentmaterial.

Other novel features and advantages of my con struction will appearfromthe following description of a specific embodiment thereofillustrated by way of example, but not bywayof limitation,

in the accompanying drawing.

In such drawing, Fig. l is an outside view of the upper portion of apair of trousers, in the construction of which my invention has beenembodied;

Fig. 2 is an inside view of they waist region of a pair of trousersshowing the application thereto of my novel pocket arrangement with partof the a pocket construction broken away to illustrate its structure andapplication to the garment fabric; Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional viewtaken on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, inwhich similar referencecharacters identify similar parts in the several'views, Ill represents aportion of a trouser leg having the conventional side seam ll joiningthe fabric strips constituting the leg, and a waist 'band l2.Immediately in line with the side seam II and below the waist band l2,there is formed a substafitially V-shaped opening l3, one side of whichis constituted of the edge H, a continuationof the trouser seam ll,

' extending to the waist band, and the other side access tothe contentsof the pockets without the necessity of contortion, either of the bodyor of the hands, in order to reach the inner recesses of either of thepockets.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a plurality ofpockets constituted of a single strip of fabric capable of manufactureand application to the garment with facility and low cost, with theopening, providing access to either of the compartments of the pocket,extending only partway along the side seam of the garment and therebyproviding a complete enclosure for any objects of substantial size orbulk which may be contained in either compartment, so as to prevent lossthereof during any position, whether walking, sitting, or lying downthat the wearer of the garment may assume.

A still further object of the invention is to of which is constituted ofan edge l5 of the front garment fabric extending at a substantial anglefrom the side seam at a point at which the edge H terminates, to thelower edge of the waist band l2.

The pocket structure, constructed in accordance with my invention, ispreferably constituted of a single piece of any suitable materialconventionally utilized in fabricating a garment pocket, such singlestrip of material being cut from a pattern which is then doubled overupon itself along the line l6 and seamed at the opposite edges I Ithroughout the length of the pocket and also along the two bottom edgesl8 and I! of the two compartments 20 and 2| to be formed, and along acurved cut-out 22 extending substantially along the center of the singlestrip of fabric from the bottom edge thereof to a little below thevertical midpoint thereof.

The two compartment pocket, as thus constituted, is secured as a wholetothe waist band l2 by stitching 23 running along the upper edge of thefabric material constituting the pockets. The material of the edges I Iand I! of the opening I! is folded over and stitched to thecorresponding edges of the pocket material to form an edging or binding24 around the pocket opening. A strip of facing material 25, preferablyof the same material as the garment, is stitched to the inner wall ofthe pocket to constitute a facing for the entire V-shaped opening II.

A bar-tack 2 is formed at the terminus of the V-shaped opening, suchbar-tack extendin through the pocket material and serves to secure thepocket to the garment just below the opening. Such bar-tack is appliedat a point slightly above the vertex of the curved inner edging orcut-out 22 of the compartments of the pocket.

As shown in the drawing, the preferred embodiment of my inventionprovides the V-shaped opening with one of its edges runningsubstantially coincidental with the side seam of the pocket. Both of theedges of the opening l3, however, might diverge at a considerable anglefrom the bar-tack 26, so that the opening to each compartment of thepocket is disposed at an angle to the trouser side seam for providingeven greater facility of insertion of the hand of the wearer into eitherof the compartments. The degree of divergence of the two side edges ofthe opening depends entirely upon the type of garment to which my novelpocket arrangement is applied. For instance, in a pair of overalls orknickerbockers, the divergence may beoonsiderable so as to provide theready access to the hands which wearers of this type of wearing apparellike.

It will be noted that my novel construction of pocket provides a pocketstructure of great strength and large capacity, but which is so disposedand formed as not to interfere with the comfort of the wearer, the fitof the garment, or the ready disposition of a plurality of articles inthe compartments and the ready access thereto by the hands of the wearerwithout the necessity of unnatural contortions of the hands orof thewrists in order to make it possible for the wearer of the garment toreach either of the compartments. Thus, access to the front compartmentof the duplex pocket structure may be had by inserting the handforwardly into the pocket through the opening it, while access to therear compartment may be had with substantially'the same facility byinserting the hand into the same opening but directing the handrearwardly. By

lowermost recesses of the compartments irrespective of the depth of thepocket.

By reason of my novel construction, therefore, a considerable increasein the size of the pockets from the conventional size may be attainedwhile retaining the ready accessibility to such compartments, aconsideration of primary importance in trousers or overalls used byworkmen who may have tools and materials which must be stored in pocketsand yet be readily accessible in the course of their work.

It will be noted, also, that the contents of the two compartments arereadily kept apart, particularly by reason of the configuration of thesingle strip of material constituting the pocket in the formation of thecurved cut-out portion 22,- extending from the bottom of the pockets tothe bar-tack 26. While the contents of the two compartments are keptapart when desired, it is, nevertheless, very easy to transfer an objectfrom one compartment to another without completely withdrawing theobject to be transferred from the confines of the duplex pocket. Thiswould not be possible if the duplex pocket were formed by a verticalpartition extending substantially from the bottom edge of the pocket toits upper edge.

I claim:

1. An outer garment of the class described. having a substantiallyV-shaped side-opening, and a pocket structure comprising twosuperimposed plies of fabric assembled within said garment, one of saidplies having a V-shaped pocket opening substantially corresponding tothat of the garment, said pocket structure being stitched along itsupper edge to said garment, and having the edge of its pocket openingstitchedto the adjacent edge of said opening in the garment, formingtherewith a single pocket opening, said pocket structure having saidplies formed into two compartments. both readily accessible through saidsingle pocket opening, one compartment being disposed forward of saidopening and the other compartment to the rear thereof.

2. An outer garment of the class described,

.wherein the realedge of said V-shaped single reason of the wide mouthor upper edge of the pocket-opening extends upwardly and rearwardlyrelatively to the upright side seam line of the garment, thus givingfree access directly downward into the rear compartment of the pocketstructure through a relatively wide upper portion of said singleopening, said last-named portion also permitting the hand of the wearerto be extended freely in a forward direction into the front

